Integration of instant messenging with Internet searching

ABSTRACT

Techniques for integrating instant messaging with Internet search features are provided. An instant messaging (IM) application allows users to launch a search of the Internet or the World Wide Web for information about another IM user or another topic. If an IM user wishes to locate information relating to a friend, a search is performed through a database of registered IM members to locate a user profile for the friend. If the friend&#39;s profile is found, the profile is displayed to the IM user. An IM application can also launch a Internet search for information relating to a topic or a friend. The IM application can link to an Internet search engine to search the Internet for web sites relating to the topic or person. Search results from an Internet search can be sorted based on information about a friend that is stored in the friend&#39;s user profile.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides techniques for integrating instant messaging with Internet search features, and more particularly, to techniques for initiating Internet searches within an instant messaging application.

The Internet offers various ways for users to communicate with other users, such as instant messaging. Instant messaging (IM) has become increasingly popular. Instant messaging provides communication within a closed community, i.e., only registered users can send or receive messages via an instant messaging service. Users are required to sign in to the same system (or possibly the same server) with a pre-selected user name and password before sending messages.

Instant messaging software typically allows a user to define a list of “friends” (i.e., other registered users with whom the user wishes to communicate) and to reject or ignore messages sent by other users. An IM user can create a user profile that contains personal information about the user. An IM user can access a friend's user profile through the IM software to see what information the friend has published about himself or herself.

Often IM users have a desire to search the Internet to locate more information about other IM users. An IM user may also want to search the Internet to locate information about topics that are related to an active IM conservation. Current IM applications do not allow a user to link directly to the Internet to perform searches. Therefore, an IM user must manually open a separate web browser window to link to an Internet search engine web page. After typing in search criteria into the Internet search engine web page, the IM user typically has to manually flip through numerous search results to locate web sites that are relevant to another IM user or to a particular topic.

Therefore, it would be desirable to provide techniques for integrating instant messaging with Internet search capabilities.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides techniques for integrating instant messaging with Internet search features. An instant messaging (IM) application or client of the present invention allows users to launch an Internet search for information about a friend or another topic.

If an IM user wishes to locate information relating to a friend, a search is performed through a database of registered IM members to locate a user profile for the friend. If the friend's profile is found, the profile is displayed to the IM user.

An IM application can also launch an Internet search for information relating to a topic or a friend (e.g., a World Wide Web search). The IM application can link to an Internet search server to search the Internet for web sites relating to the topic or person. Search results from an Internet search can be sorted based on information about a friend that is stored in the friend's user profile. The Internet search results and the user profile can be displayed together in a web browser window generated by a web browser application.

The following detailed description together with the accompanying drawings will provide a better understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an instant messaging display screen with a search button according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates dialog box launched by an instant messaging application for performing an Internet search according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of a system that can be used to implement instant messaging Internet search features and a flow chart according to embodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a screen that displays results from a search launched from an instant messaging application according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a computer display screen 100 provided by an instant messaging application or client according to the present invention. An instant messaging (IM) user types messages in region 101. The message in region 101 is sent to a recipient IM user when the sender selects send option 105. Sent and received instant messages are displayed in region 102.

The instant messaging application that generated screen 100 has an Internet search feature according to the present invention. Display screen 100 includes a search button 103 in the main toolbar of the message window that links to the Internet search feature of the present invention. An IM user can also link to the Internet search feature by typing a shortcut key (e.g., Ctrl+E) or by selecting a menu item. The menu item can be entitled, for example, “Search the Web for [display name].” The menu item can be displayed from a drop down list at the top of screen 100, or from a list that is displayed when the IM user clicks the right side mouse button. The menu item can also be displayed in an electronic Address Book.

After the user selects one of the options that links to the Internet search feature, a web search dialog box 201 appears, as shown, for example, in FIG. 2. The IM application can automatically display the name of a friend in region 202. For example, the IM application can display the name of the friend that the IM user is sending instant messages to in screen 100.

The IM application can automatically form the display name in region 202 using the following information about the friend in the following order based on the availability of this information, (1) first name and last name of the friend from an address book, (2) the friend's nickname from the address book, and (3) the friend's identification (ID) number (e.g., Yahoo! ID). This information is used to pre-fill search box 201 with a friend's display name.

The query string is highlighted so that the IM user can simply hit Enter to execute an Internet search of the highlighted friend.

Alternatively, the IM user can manually type in the username or number of another IM user in region 202. The IM user can select search option 203 to launch an Internet web search for the user or topic in displayed in region 202.

According to further embodiments of the present invention, the IM user can type in a search query in region 202 to launch a search for information relating to any topic. For example, an IM user may be planning a vacation with a friend that he is sending instant messages to in screen 100. The IM user can launch an Internet web search to check for tourist information about Paris, France by typing in search terms in region 202. The IM application automatically opens up a web browser to search the Internet for a friend or another topic when the user selects one of the IM search options mentioned above.

FIG. 3 illustrates a system diagram that can implement embodiments of the present invention. The system includes search server 320, instant messaging client 310, and IM member profile database 316. IM client 310 can contain any suitable IM application such as Yahoo! IM, AOL IM, MSN IM, etc.

Only one IM client is shown in FIG. 3 for simplicity. However, search server 320 can communicate with many IM clients. Search server 320 can contain any Internet search engine. Search server 320 performs a search through the Internet or the World Wide Web for information relating to the search query.

In the example shown in FIG. 3, a user named “John” has a user ID “coolguy.” John is instant messaging a user named “Jane” who has a user ID “nicegirl” through IM client 310. After John indicates that he wants to perform an Internet search for “Jane,” IM client 310 transmits a search query to search server 320. Search server 320 performs an Internet web search for “Jane” using well know Internet and web searching techniques at step 312 and sorts the search results according to their relevance to the search query.

FIG. 3 also includes an IM member profile database 316. IM member profile database 316 stores user profiles of IM members. Search server 320 looks up the user profile for “nicegirl” in IM member profile database 316. At step 314, search server 320 re-sorts the search results for “Jane” from step 312 using the data from nicegirl's profile accessed from database 316. The search results from step 312 are re-sorted according to their relevance to data in nicegirl's user profile. At step 318, the re-sorted web search results are displayed to the user John on IM client 310 in a new web browser window along with the user profile for “nicegirl.”

In one embodiment of the present invention, IM client 310 transmits a universal resource locator (URL) that identifies the Internet search query to search server 320. The URL can be in a variety of formats. For example, the IM client can transmit a URL to search server 320 in a URL format that contains a user ID and/or user name. The IM member user's ID and a user name are part of this URL string. Search server 320 uses the user information in the URL to locate web sites that relate to the IM member user. Search server 320 also uses the IM member information in the URL to retrieve the user profile of the IM member from database 316. There can also be different search URL's that are based on the user's IP, which will also include a character set parameter if necessary.

FIG. 4 illustrates a screen that displays results from an example IM search of the present invention. Screen 400 displays a user profile 401 for Jane Doe, who has a user ID “nicegirl.” In the example of FIG. 4, screen 400 displays a user profile 401. The user profile is based on the user ID. Blank fields are typically not displayed in profile 401.

Screen 400 also displays search results 402 from an Internet web search for Jane Doe. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the search results 402 are sorted according to information about a person stored in a user profile from database 316. Search server 320 accesses user profiles from database 316. Search server 320 uses data in a user profile to identify which web sites are most likely to be relevant to the search-for friend. Search server 320 then places the web sites that are most relevant to the friend's user profile at the top of the list of search results. This allows the searching IM user to view the most relevant search results first.

For example, Jane Doe may add links to her home page in her IM user profile 401. Jane Doe's user profile information is accessed from database 316. Search server 320 uses Jane Doe's user profile information to sort search results retrieved from an Internet web search for “Jane Doe.” Web sites that mention information in Jane Doe's profile are sorted above other search results.

This feature is advantageous, because it helps an IM user identify web sites that are related to the friend being searched. Search server 320 may retrieve web sites that refer to several different people with the same name. For example, if Member A's name is Jane Doe, it is likely that search server 320 will retrieve web sites that relate to many different Jane Does. If Jane Doe's user profile indicates that she attended MIT, works at XYZ corporation, and lists a homepage URL, web site hits containing these terms are sorted at the top of the list of search results. This feature of the present invention helps the searching IM user to distinguish between webs sites that mention Jane Doe the XYZ corporation employee and MIT graduate, from web sites that mention other Jane Does.

Thus, a user can influence the search results when his or her friends use IM to search the Internet for him/her. A user can add specific information to his or her user profile to help his or her friends locate relevant web pages. For example, a user profile can include a member's real name, nickname, location, age, gender, martial status, occupation, hobbies, latest news, quotes, homepage link, cool links to other web sites, a last updated date, and a picture/avatar. All of this information helps to identify the user and to distinguish him or her from other individuals. Search server 320 can use any or all of this information to sort the search results.

While the invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications are possible. The various components of an instant messaging system may be implemented using hardware components, programmable devices (e.g., microprocessors) executing software instructions, and any combination thereof. “Instant messaging” as used herein is not limited to any particular protocol, format, delivery method, or form factor and includes messages delivered according to any protocol that enables communication among a closed community of authenticated users. Thus, although the invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to cover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of the following claims. 

1. A method for performing an Internet search launched from an instant messaging (IM) application, the method comprising: providing a first IM user with an option to launch an Internet search of a second IM user directly from the IM application; transmitting a search query identifying the second IM user to a search server; searching the Internet for web pages matching the search query to generate search results using the search server; accessing a user profile of the second IM user from an IM member profile database; sorting the search results in order of relevance to information in the user profile of the second IM user; and displaying the sorted search results to the first IM user.
 2. The method as defined in claim 1 further comprising: providing the first IM user with an option to launch an Internet search from the IM application based on a topic; and transmitting a second search query identifying the topic to the search server.
 3. The method as defined in claim 2 further comprising: searching the Internet for web pages matching the second search query to generate second search results using the search server; and displaying the second search results to the first IM user.
 4. The method as defined in claim 2 wherein displaying the search results further comprises displaying the user profile along with the search results.
 5. The method according to claim 2 wherein providing the first IM user with the option to launch the Internet search from the IM application based on the search query further comprises automatically displaying a string that identifies the second IM user in a dialog box.
 6. The method according to claim 5 wherein the string is a name that is accessed from an electronic address book.
 7. The method according to claim 5 wherein the string is a identification number that identifies the user profile.
 8. The method according to claim 1 wherein transmitting the search query to the search server further comprises transmitting a URL that contains an ID identifying the second IM user to the search server.
 9. The method according to claim 1 wherein providing the first IM user with the option to launch the Internet search from the IM application further comprises providing a search option on a tool bar or drop down list on a screen displayed by the IM application.
 10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the sorted search results are displayed in a web browser window generated by a web browser application.
 11. A computer system for performing an Internet search launched from an instant messaging (IM) application, the computer system comprising: code for providing a first IM user with an option to launch an Internet search of a second IM user directly from the IM application; code for transmitting a search query identifying the second IM user to a search server; code for searching the Internet for web pages matching the search query to generate search results using the search server; code for accessing a user profile of the second IM user from an IM member profile database; code for sorting the search results in order of relevance to information in the user profile of the second IM user; code for displaying the sorted search results to the first IM user; and a computer readable medium for storing the codes.
 12. The computer system according to claim 11 wherein the code for displaying the sorted search results further comprises displaying the user profile of the second IM user along with the search results.
 13. The computer system according to claim 12 further comprising: code for providing the first IM user with an option to launch an Internet search from the IM application based on a topic; and code for transmitting a second search query identifying the topic to the search server.
 14. The computer system according to claim 11 further comprising: code for searching the Internet for web pages matching the second search query to generate second search results using the search server; and code for displaying the second search results to the first IM user.
 15. The computer system according to claim 11 wherein the code for providing the first IM user with the option to launch the Internet search from the IM application based on the search query further comprises code for automatically displaying a string that identifies the second IM user in a dialog box.
 16. The computer system according to claim 15 wherein the string is a name that is accessed from an electronic address book.
 17. The computer system according to claim 15 the string is a identification number that identifies the user profile.
 18. The computer system according to claim 11 wherein the code for transmitting the search query to the search server further comprises code for transmitting a URL that contains an ID identifying the second IM user to the search server.
 19. The computer system according to claim 11 wherein the code for providing the first IM user with the option to launch the Internet search from the IM application further comprises code for providing a search option on a tool bar or drop down list on a screen displayed by the IM application.
 20. The computer system according to claim 11 wherein the sorted search results are displayed in a web browser window generated by a web browser application. 